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Europe: Shares slip as miners weaken and Skanska skids

[LONDON] European stock markets fell on Friday, weighed down by a drop in the shares of mining companies and a fall at Swedish construction company Skanska.

The pan-European Stoxx 600 and the similar FTSEurofirst 300 were both down by 0.4 per cent.

Mining stocks fell as copper prices eased back.

Skanska also dropped by 5 per cent after the company posted second-quarter earnings that missed market forecasts.

However, Vodafone shares rose 2.7 per cent after the British mobile operator company reported a better-than-expected rise in first quarter revenues.

The Stoxx 600 index is up by around 10 per cent from a low point reached in June in the immediate aftermath of Britain's shock vote to quit the European Union, but the index remains down by around 7 per cent since the start of 2016.